Friday, April 26, 2013

Our Girl Scout service unit has had kind of a long, sad story about camporee this year. We were supposed to have it last weekend (and this was the postponed date), but a front was coming through and we could not get a definitive read on the weather forecast. It looked stormy and it was hard to tell by the various forecasts how much stormy and when exactly. So, in an abundance of caution, we cancelled the event. Much to everyone's disappointment. In Orlando, you've got at least a 50/50 shot of the forecast being dead wrong. The system slows or mellows over the Gulf. Some other front comes in from the East and counteracts the feared system. You name it. Even an hour after we called it on account of rain, the forecast didn't look so dire. So, of course, there was a shower (no lightning) on Friday evening at our meet up time, then almost no rain until Sunday afternoon. If we hadn't cancelled, we would have had tornadoes That's just how it goes. I think it's safe to say that girls and adults were equally disappointed.

My husband worked on setting up a compass navigation course through the group camp sites at the park we were using. It took a few trips to make sure that it was right. Here are some pictures I took during the last trip.

It was a little gray and overcast when we were there. The light was really pretty.

El and Mike setting up the last waypoint.

We saw two Sandhill Cranes and their two babies. The babies really blended in with the ground cover (good for them! Bad for pictures!) They ended up meandering pretty close to us.

Here's a parent/child Sandhill Crane. You can see the baby under the arch of the big crane's neck/body.

Our troop is planning two things to help make up for this (and put is in a better position for future camporees). We're going to have "dinner meetings" to work on our outdoor cooking at the grill near the lake in my neighborhood. And we're planning a Saturday morning to Sunday morning camp out at this park right after the school year ends. 3 meals. 26 hours or so. Should be doable. 3 adults, 6-7 kids age 9 or 10. Very close to civilization. Baby steps. :-)

Also: I swore off camping when I was 16. I counted, and I've been exactly 8 times since that last trip and now (26 years). 2 of them were GS camping training. 2 of them were at Ft. Wilderness at Disney, in a pop-up camper. The change is that I decided that I needed to figure out how to do this. I know the theory. I need to know that I can do it.